Construction has begun on “The Spiral,” a 1,031-foot-tall project in New York’s Hudson Yards designed by Bjarke Ingels Group. The fifth supertall to be added to the area, The Spiral was commissioned by developer Tishman Speyer as part of the ongoing revitalization of the Midtown West region of Manhattan.

The tower is named after its defining feature - an "ascending ribbon of lively green spaces" that extend the High Line "to the sky," says Bjarke Ingels. The scheme will offer 2.85 million of office space, with the anchor tenant Pfizer occupying 18 floors, according to New York YIMBY.

"The Spiral combines the classic Ziggurat silhouette of the premodern skyscraper with the slender proportions and efficient layouts of the modern high-rise," adds Ingels. "Designed for the people that occupy it, The Spiral ensures that every floor of the tower opens up to the outdoors creating hanging gardens and cascading atria that connect the open floor plates from the ground floor to the summit into a single uninterrupted workspace. The string of terraces wrapping around the building expand the daily life of the tenants to the outside air and light.”

The 2.85 million-square-foot tower's cascading gardens are being referred to as "the evolution of the modern, collaborative and sustainable workplace." As the developer describes, "The terraces will ascend, one per floor, in a spiraling motion to create a unique, continuous green pathway that wraps around the façade of the tower and supplies each occupant with readily accessible outdoor space."

The first phase of Hudson Yards – including 15 Hudson Yards as well as five other commercial and residential towers, The Shed, the Public Square and Gardens, “Vessel,” and The Shops & Restaurants at Hudson Yards – is expected to open to the public by March of this year.

This article was originally published on Metropolis Magazine as "Hudson Yards Promised a High-Tech Neighborhood - It was a Greater Challenge Than Expected ." There's something striking about the command center of America's largest private real estate development, Hudson Yards, in that it's actually pretty boring.